Dear readers, today let’s look at the long-promised study of the „Indian heart“. We will look at signs that are directly related to the heart, both because they appear directly from the heart and on the heart, and because they use the heart in its composition to describe a derived meaning. These derivatives and the concepts formed by the signs at the heart and from the heart – these signs showing us a lot about the way of thinking, conceptualizing the world, feeling and life of the Nativ American. Let us embark on this adventurous journey, let us take courage with us, let us be kind and generous on the journey, let us think and decide with our hearts and love this way of knowing, wisdom and feeling.
HEART
AFRAID („shaking heart“)
GOOD, ALL RIGHT
THINK
KNOW, UNDERSTAND („Look, it’s in my heart“)
WISE, WISDOM (HEART + KNOW)
In most of the sign languages we know, cognitive processes (verbs connected with thinking, knowledge, wisdom, sense, etc.) appear exclusively on the head – on forehead or on side of the forehead. Also in Native American´s signs, the forehead appears, for example, in the signs IDEA, IDEA, BELIEVE. But as you can see, the Native American think, know, understand, remember, and have wisdom, etc. in their hearts. This wonderful gift in the preserved signs speak to our hearts.
FEEL
FOND, FONDNESS, LOVE, AFFECTION, REGARD
PITY, MERCY („cry or shed tears for you“, „tears from the heart“)
SORRY
ANGRY (an older variant of the sign was made on the heart)
IF, DOUBT, UNDECIDED, PERHAPS, MAYBE SO (heart looking two ways)
CONSIDER
DECIDE (heart looking two or three ways)
COMPOUNDS:
DETERMINE, MAKE UKP ONE´S MIND (HEART + “CUT”/”choose directly one way”)
EXCITE, AGITATE (HEART + „GROWTH“)
CONFESS (HEART + SHOW) – „heart on the palm“
CHARACTER (HEART + „human figure)
SRORROW, DISTRESS, DISCOURAGED
DOWN-HEARTED, SADNESS, SAD (HEART + showing palm by moving to the ground) – „heart on the ground“
MELANCHOLY (HEART + show palm by moving to the ground) – „heart on the ground“
HOPE (HEART + WANT)
HOME-SICKNESS (HEART + WANT + TEEPEE)
CROSS, SULKY (HEART + BAD)
GRIEVE (HEART + DOWN)
MEAN, STINGY (HEART + FEW)
GENEROUS (HEART + BIG)
LONGING (HEART + WANT or HEART + WANT + SEE)
BRAVE (HEART + STRONG)
KIND, GENTLE (HEART + GOOD)
GLAD, PLEASANT, HAPPY, MERRY (HEART + DAY) – „sun in the heart“
JOYOUS (HEART + DAY + SING) – „singing heart“
Signs excerpted from ERNEST THOMPSON SETON: SIGN TALK (1918)
and put together into semantic group by Karel Redlich,
This text originates from a Czech magazine and has been translated into English by the author: Karel Redlich
Illustrations for the text can be found in the original Czech version attached below.
